Mansoor vs. Mustafa Ali added to Crown Jewel

You can’t have a Saudi show without Mansoor. Well, you can... he wasn’t on the first Crown Jewel in 2018. But he’s been on every other event in the Kingdom, and he’s undefeated too. So it was only a matter of time until he was added to Oct. 21, 2021’s Crown Jewel in the city where he was born, Riyadh.

That happened last night (Oct. 11), when the partnership he’s been trying to form with Mustafa Ali fell apart. At times, it seemed like the enthusiastic Mansoor was winning over the jaded Ali. But the losses stacked up, and after their latest ones at the hands of The Hurt Business’ Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin, the former Cruiserweight champ 205 Live star decided he had to take a different route.

It’s hard to imagine this wasn’t always the plan. Would we have even seen Ali hint at a face turn if WWE’s return to Saudi Arabia had come together sooner?

While you wonder about that, here’s an updated look at the card for a week from this Thursday:

- Roman Reigns (c) vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal championship

- Drew McIntyre vs. Big E (c) for the WWE title

- Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s championship

- AJ Styles & Omos vs. RK-Bro (c) for the Raw Tag titles

- Goldberg vs. Bobby Lashley in a No Holds Barred match

- Edge vs. Seth Rollins in Hell in a Cell

- Xavier Woods or Jinder Mahal vs. Finn Bálor or Sami Zayn in the finals of the King of the Ring Tournament

- Doudrop or Shayna Baszler vs. Carmella or Zelina Vega in the finals of the Queen’s Crown Tournament